WV Fan Latest Posts
|
28 March 2010
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - West Virginia is headed to the Final Four. And for that they can thank ...
Joe Mazzulla? Indeed.
The little backup point guard, a virtual non-threat offensively all season, scored 17 points and helped the Mountaineers build an insurmountable second half lead over Kentucky Saturday night. And that was enough to allow No. 6 West Virginia to knock off talent-laden No. 2 Kentucky 73-66 in the East Regional championship in front of 22,497 at the Carrier Dome.
The win puts the Mountaineers (31-6) into their first Final Four in 51 years. In 1959, a West Virginia team led by Jerry West reached the national championship game before losing by a point to California. Since then, the Mountaineers have come close only one other time, losing a 20-point lead to Louisville and falling in overtime in the 2005 regional finals in New Mexico.
The national semifinals are Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis. West Virginia's opponent that afternoon or evening will be the winner of today's South Regional final between Duke and Baylor. The other half of the Final Four bracket will be West Regional champion Butler against the winner of today's Midwest final between Michigan State and Tennessee.
The winners play a week from Monday for the national championship.
"I've been telling these guys all season they have a chance to be special,'' coach Bob Huggins said in the moments following the win over Kentucky. "Two more wins and we'll be really special.''
Kentucky (35-3) became the third No. 1 seed to fall in this year's tournament, after Kansas and Syracuse. The only top seed remaining is Duke and the only No. 2 seed still alive is West Virginia.
Da'Sean Butler scored 18 points - 15 of them in lightning-quick fashion to get the Mountaineers into the game in the first half. Kevin Jones and Devin Ebanks combined for 25 points and 16 rebounds.
Most significantly, West Virginia's stifling, changing defenses held Kentucky to just 34-percent shooting. The Wildcats missed their first 20 3-point attempts and turned the ball over 16 times. John Wall had 19 points, DeMarcus Cousins 15 and Patrick Patterson eight points and 13 rebounds for UK.
"I thought our 1-3-1 was a lot more physical than it's been in the past,'' said Mazzulla, who is generally at the back of that zone battling players much bigger.
But it was the offense provided by Mazzulla, named the East Regional's Most Outstanding Player, that was the spark. West Virginia trailed 13-6 at the start and had missed 13 straight shots when Mazzulla made a 3-pointer from the right wing. After that, the Mountaineers seemed to catch fire and then in the second half Mazzulla was a one-man offensive machine, driving to the basket.
He drove the Mountaineers to that 16-point lead, which was just enough for everyone else to hang onto while Mazzulla missed the final seven-plus minutes because of foul trouble.
He admitted later that the 3-pointer probably got him going from a confidence standpoint, although he didn't try another jump shot.
"I figured I had nothing to lose [taking that wide-open shot early],'' Mazzulla said. "So maybe I go sit by Huggs the rest of the game.''
Actually, Mazzulla did spend a lot of time sitting beside Huggins, but only because of foul trouble. Otherwise he played as much as possible (a season-high 30 minutes) because he is the team's only active point guard. Truck Bryant spent his second game in a row watching in street clothes after breaking his foot Tuesday.
That nearly cost the Mountaineers. Mazzulla went out with 7:15 to play with his fourth foul, then returned for just 17 seconds at about the 21/2-minute mark before getting his fifth and sitting down for good.
